Sunday, August 15, 2010

Couple of weeks back I was confabbing with a colleague, Ms Anuja Kale and she spoke about a very interesting construct called ‘Pay-Forward’, which not only resonated with me but stirred me, as I felt connected with that concept instantaneously.

All of us in our lifes and careers have been helped by someone…souls who had no selfish interest in doing that…..but helped because they genuinely wanted to…. and in some cases they took flak for that but still had the courage and conviction to do so…and that act played an important role in our growth.

The question is, ‘How do we repay this debt back?’

This can be repaid by two means….one...by doing a similar deed, ie. helping someone out there achieve his/her career dreams….has the passion and fire but probably needs a similar push...and you are in a position to do that...helping altruistically…..without any gains or political purpose…larger the no…better it is…second….by participating and contributing to the cause of the necessitous. Though we are celebrating the 64th Independence day…we are far away from ‘wiping tears from every eye’, Gandhi's dream at the time of freedom. Therefore its almost incumbent on the privileged members to contribute in time and capital….and we should ...to the cause of the underprivileged.

And that’s ‘Paying-Forward’.

When you ask someone if he/she is willing to…the most common excuse you hear is that, ‘I don’t have time’. So this colleague of mine, who despite her extremely feverish work schedule, takes out time to share management and leadership lessons with the underprivileged section of the society ( they cannot afford to attend or hire someone of her caliber), at a school, almost every week. If she can, I am sure all of us can….

Even when looked selfishly, 'Paying-Forward' gives you immense peace, a commodity running severely short in these stressful days..

Let’s take a pledge today…that we will all start ‘Paying-Forward’, in some way and preferably both ways…and we in our own minute way would have contributed to the growth of the nation.